President Donald Trump

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Trump Calls Sexual Assault Claim Fake News, Denies Knowing Accuser

President Donald Trump seemed to be referring to a story about Rachel Cooks, who is one of at least 16 women who has accused Trump of sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to forcible groping and kissing over several decades

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Trump Accuser: 'We Are Not Holding Our President Accountable'

Jessica Leeds discusses the fallout of her accusation of sexual misconduct by President Donald Trump. (Published Monday, Dec. 11, 2017)

After spending the weekend criticizing his political opponents in a tweetstorm, President Donald Trump went on the offense again Tuesday — this time denying a sexual assault claim and attacking the "fake news" that published the story.

Trump seemed to be responding to a Monday story in the Washington Post, which took another look at Rachel Crooks' allegation that Trump kissed her without her consent while she was working as a receptionist for a company based in Trump Tower in New York in 2005.

He tweeted: "A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago. Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security......

....cameras running. Another False Accusation. Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me? One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported...doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative."

A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago. Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security......

....cameras running. Another False Accusation. Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me? One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported...doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative.

Crooks, now 35, first told her story to the New York Times in October 2016. In her accounts, she describes meeting Trump at an elevator, where he held her hand and kissed her cheeks. Then, Crooks says, he kissed her mouth.

"It felt like a long kiss,” the Post quoted Crooks as saying. "The whole thing probably lasted two minutes, maybe less."

Crooks is one of at least 16 women who has accused Trump of sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to forcible groping and kissing over several decades. While Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations, Crooks and two other women recently called on Congress to investigate the claims.

Porter resigned from his White House position on Feb. 7 after two ex-wives accused him of being physically and emotionally abusive during their marriages. Trump at first praised his former aide and the work he did in the White House, tweeting that "peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation."

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One week after Porter's resignation, Trump spoke out and denounced domestic violence, saying, "it almost wouldn't even have to be said."

The president's heated tweets also come in the wake of reports that Trump had consensual affairs with a Playboy model and an adult film star while married to his current wife, Melania Trump. Both affairs are reported to have been covered up by Trump and his allies.

Trump has refrained from personally addressing either affair, but the relationships have been denied in statements from his lawyer and the White House